IRISH WEATHER NEWS

Each Year Ireland receives the remnants of hurricanes our as the Irish like to call it the tail end of storms coming across the Atlantic but by the time the reach Ireland the are no longer classed as hurricane and most give moderate to gusty winds and heavy rain but on the rare occasion we can get very strong winds.

Hurricane Ida is a weakening tropical depression that became the second most intense hurricane to strike the U.S. state of Louisiana on record, only behind Hurricane Katrina, and tied for the strongest landfall in the state by maximum winds with Hurricane Laura in 2020 and the 1856 Last Island hurricane. The ninth named storm, fourth hurricane, and second major hurricane of the 2021 Atlantic hurricane season, Ida originated from a tropical wave first monitored by the National Hurricane Center (NHC) on August 23, moving into the Caribbean Sea. As it tracked northwestward towards Jamaica and the coast of Cuba, favorable conditions allowed the wave to become Tropical Depression Nine on August 26. Passing west of Jamaica, the depression intensified into Tropical Storm Ida later that day. With a trough to its north-northwest weakening, and light wind shear present, Ida organized further and strengthened into a hurricane at 18:00 UTC on August 27, while moving swiftly over the western side of Cuba.

Moving into the Gulf of Mexico on August 28, Ida underwent rapid intensification due to very warm sea surface temperatures and light wind shear, reaching major hurricane intensity by early the next day. As it approached and made landfall on the Louisiana coast, Ida reached its peak intensity with maximum sustained winds of 150 mph (240 km/h) and a minimum central pressure of 929 mbar (27.4 inHg). Ida initiated an eyewall replacement cycle around this time, though the hurricane maintained its strength for much of its initial landfall, before frictional displacement caused its convection to be offset from the center, resulting in somewhat rapid weakening as it moved toward inland Louisiana. Ida was subsequently downgraded to a tropical storm on August 30. Further weakening ensued, as Ida continued to move northeastward across the Southeastern United States, and it became a tropical depression at 21:00 UTC that day.

Throughout its path of destruction in Louisiana, more than a million people had no power in total. Widespread heavy infrastructural damage occurred throughout the southeastern portion of the state, as well as extremely heavy flooding in coastal areas. New Orleans levees survived, though power damage was extensive throughout the whole city. There also were high amounts of plant destruction in the state. As of August 31, four direct deaths have been confirmed in relation to Ida in Louisiana. An indirect death occurred when a man was mauled to death by an alligator after walking through Ida's floodwaters. The storm has caused at least $15 billion in insured losses in Louisiana.

Will Hurricane Ida hit Ireland

At present Hurricane Ida is located over Alabama, Mississippi and Tennessee but has now been downgraded to a Tropical Depression and has lost a lot of its intensity. the below chart shows Ida as a hurricane on the 30th of August.

The weather in Ireland has been very nice the last week with good sunny spells at times with most areas receiving under 1mm of rain which is way below average for the time of year but there are signs that the weather will breaking on Sunday with some rain but even at this range the amount of rainfall on Sunday is very uncertain. The latest ECWMF weather model shows some rain in places on Sunday but at present it keeps much of Ulster, North Connacht and north Leinster Dry on Sunday but overall any rainfall that does occur in places on Sunday will be rather low.

Hurricane Ida will move across the North Atlantic over the end of the week and next weekend and will downgrade to a normal low pressure system which may bring a little rain on Monday to places but overall the latest outlook is for the Ex Hurricane to pass close to Iceland well away from Ireland but at this stage it will be just a normal low pressure bring no major effects. The forecast position of the Ida can be seen on the Chart below I have drawn out.

Next week overall will see the weather turn more unsettle with bands or spells of rain moving in from the Atlantic at times over the week with the risk of some gusty winds in places but at this stage at least up until mid week next week there will be no major low pressure systems.

As week head into the next week the weather does look like it will turn that more unsettled with a higher chance of wetter and windier weather and the possibly of a stronger winds storm. For anyone that reads my updates and posts daily you will have seen that I forecast a dry end to August and to start September. I also had forecast a rather unsettled period mid September something I still expect. The below chart shows low pressure dominating across western Europe mid month.

Looking a little further ahead there are signs that the weather will settled down again at some stage near the end of September but at this stage signals are weak to say the least but this good seen just signs early on. There is a chance we see a return of frost again at the end of September under the right conditions if high pressure does build it may bring a northerly and colder airflow at the end of September.

Kenneth from the Donegal Weather Channel

LATEST NEWS